Zedler, Aggies back off defunding LGBT resource centers

After backlash from constituents and advocacy groups, the push by state Rep. Bill Zedler and conservative members of the Texas A&M student government to defund campus resource centers for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students has fizzled.

John Claybrook, Texas A&M student president

John Claybrook, Texas A&M’s student body president, vetoed the “Religious Funding Exemption Bill”, which began as the “GLBT Funding Opt-Out Bill”, less than two days after its passage by the school’s Student Senate on a 35-28 vote.

“The sentiment towards the bill has not changed and has caused great harm to our reputation as a student body and to the students feeling disenfranchised by the bill,” Claybrook explained in an open letter. “The damage must stop today.”

The bill was designed to allow students who objected to funding the GLBT Center on campus for “religious or moral reasons” to apply for a reimbursement from the school for the $2 activity fee. Tuesday, a day before the final vote was to be taken, the bill’s author worked with others to expand the language of the bill to “not target a specific group.”

In the Texas House, Zedler’s pre-filed amendment that would have prohibited state money from being spent on “Gender and Sexuality centers” was withdrawn without drama Thursday during the daylong budget debate. The amendment alleges these campus resource centers “support, promote, or encourage any behavior that would lead to high risk behavior for AIDS, Hepatitis B or any other sexually transmitted disease.”

Read more about these proposals here and more about the Texas House budget debate from Peggy Fikac, the bureau’s chief, here.